Kingston Wharves, Cartagena recognized for port development
The fast-growing containerport at Cartagena, Colombia, and the multipurpose terminal Kingston Wharves in Jamaica have received port of the year awards for 2006 from the Caribbean Shipping Association.
Cartagena was named 'best container terminal' for the second consecutive year. Located on Colombia's Caribbean Coast, Cartagena handled 830,000 TEUs of containerized cargo in 2006, and has become a key transshipment center in the region.
In accepting the award from the CSA Tuesday in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, Giovanni Benedetti, Port of Cartagena commercial director, noted that since the port was privatized in the early 1990s, it has grown from a '1940s' port handling 90,000 TEUs in 1992 to a powerhouse expected to handle 900,000 TEUs in 2007.
Grantley Stephensen, chairman and chief executive officer of Kingston Wharves, said that with a modern container terminal in Kingston operated by APM Terminals, Kingston Wharves said it has opted to follow a strategy 'to be the world's leading multipurpose terminal,' investing heavily in specialty equipment and modern information technology. It even sent employees to a training program run by the Ritz Carlton hotel in Kingston 'to see what real service is like.'